Consumer Preferences in Purchasing Beef and the Values they Attribute to Branded Beef Products

There have been significant changes in consumer demand at the retail counter, such as health, convenience, palatability preferences, and safety concerns. Branded programs offer a means for satisfying consumer demand for high quality and differentiated beef products. To help answer the question of who is purchasing branded beef market and why, an online survey was sent to interested beef consumers to determine their preferences of purchasing, as well as values they attribute to certain product characteristics. The total sample response from 13,000 contacted consumers was 502 responses, which according to Kreiche and Morgan, 1970 is a valid sample size. Decision variables ranked moderate and always important include guaranteed tender and satisfaction, low price, and low fat or lean. Differences in the strength of the decision values, such as always important, moderately important to seldom important were found with gender, purchasing frequency product differences. Results provide a better understanding of consumer decisions to buy branded beef and may assist producers with advertising decisions.